Saturday, January 2, 2010

New Blog

This is a new blog that allows the new organizers to take control. The old blog will be deleted in the future so please capture this one in your favorites (or write it down) so you can stay connected. Thanks. JAO

Monday, October 19, 2009

Thanks for Coming to St. Louis


The 2009 Collins Reunion is history. Those that attended seemed to have a great time visiting and catching up.

If you attended, please upload your pictures to http://collinsreunion06.shutterfly.com/. The link is on the left side of this page. You can, of course, go there to see the photos that the '09 attendees took and uploaded as well as the '06 photos.

Good News: If you missed the '09 Reunion, the next one will be organized by the San Antonio Retirees in 2011. They are tentatively planning on holding it in San Antonio and in October of 2011. So if the '09 organizers filled your in-box with e-mails, the '11 organizers have your info and will be contacting you. If you were not on the list but want to be, send an e-mail to jogp98@yahoo.com requesting to be included.

Thanks again!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Time to Party! - Thanks for Attending


Well, the bewitching hour for the 2009 reunion is almost upon us.
For those of you who might have had a change of heart and find some open
time during Oct. 16 through the 18, with nothing to do, remember, there
is still time for you to make a hotel reservation and come. We just
have to give the hotel a final count for meals on Oct 15th.

There is a lot to see and do in St. Louis. A few examples would be: Historical Laclede's Landing at the riverfront with historical buildings, Restaurants, and Bars. The ARCH is close by. Also there is the St. Louis Zoo, Anheuser Busch Brewery, Grants Farm, Six Flags, St, Louis History Museum, The St.Louis Science Center and the Botanical Gardens just to mention a few.

For those who do not have their own transportation, the hotel has a shuttle that will take you to the Airport where you can catch the Metro Link to various places.

For those of you who might be interested, Harrah's casino which is based on a boat at the riverfront provides a shuttle from the hotel to the casino from 4:00 pm to 12:00 pm. In addition, there are a lot of shopping areas available.

Below is an Agenda Collins 2009 Reunion


FRIDAY, October 16
Hospitality Suite...........Open 2:00 pm.....Gatwick Room
Welcome Reception......6:00 - 8:00 pm...TBD
Dinner..........................Open
Hospitality Suite.............8:00 pm - ??

SATURDAY, October 17
Breakfast......................Open
Hospitality Suite...........Open 10:00 am....Gatwick Room
Cocktails......................6:00 pm -7:00 pm....Lambert Room
Dinner..........................7:00 pm
Program........................8:30 pm

SUNDAY, October 18
Breakfast......................9:00 am..........TBD

REMINDERS:
*Please get your dinner reservations in.
*Pass along this info to others that may be interested - reservations are still being accepted for the hotel and dinner.
*A Full-length DVD Video of the '06 Branson reunion is available at no charge. See below for info.
* Dinner reservation cutoff is October 15.

If you know of someone the committee has not contacted, please do so and encourage them to attend. We know that we are missing a lot of addresses and e-mails. For you convenience, all of the information is on this blogspot.

Please MAKE YOUR HOTEL AND DINNER RESERVATIONS NOW. You can contact the hotel for rooms at http:marriott.com/stlsa. Use the Group Code COLCOLA or call 1-888-340-2594 and tell them you are part of the Collins 2009 Reunion.

The following people have made reservations so far. HARDIN ABRAMS, ALAIN & FRANCOISE AVELLAN, DEREK AND JUDY BERRY, BERRY BROWN, LES & MARY COOAN, GENE AND BEVERLY DAWDY, JOHN DEARBORN, JOE DOMINGUEZ, JACK & LA VONNE DULING, BILL ELLIS, KARL ELY, DIANA FAIRCHILD, DAVID AND NANCY FIELD, DIANNE FIRST, TED FUHRER, GEORGES GIULIANO, JIM HANDO, BOB HIRVELA, TONY HUEBSCH, DENNIS AND CAROL KENDRICKS, JENNIFER KOKOCINSKI, TERRY LAMB, FRANCOISE LOUBERE, CHUCK NOSLEY, STEVEN NOSSAMAN, JIM AND DIANE OGANN, TOM PATTERSON, JOSEPH PERINO, GENE SCHWARTING & MARY NAIG, DAN SHERWOOD, ENNIO AND ANNA TRIOIANI, PHYLLIS WILSON, MIKE AND LILLIAN ZONNEFELD

2006 BRANSON REUNION VIDEO AVAILABE:
Yves Audineau video- taped the Branson reunion in 2006 and if you would like a copy of the DVD from that meeting please e-mail Jim Ogann at jogp98@yahoo.com. He will mail you a copy. It runs over an hour and includes the speeches as well as some cocktail hour segments at the end. Some of the people in the DVD are no longer with us and others may not be able to travel to St. Louis so it will be a way of capturing their memories as well. Yves has allowed us to provide this version to you now and is working on a final version as well. There is no cost for this DVD so it won't be packaged up in a pretty jewel case etc. Whether you were in Branson or not and whether you plan to come to St. Louis or not, a copy is yours for the asking.

To view a brief slideshow of Yve's video please click on the link in the links area of this blog. It will give you a quick look at the 2006 reunion dinner.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Making Reservations On-Line

When you make your reservation on-line please go the http://marriott.com/stlsa as previously shown and use the Group Code: COLCOLA. You should then see the Collins Reunion ($79 + tax) rate and the group name. If you have a Marriott Rewards card and password, insert the number and password in the appropriate boxes and it will auto-fill your reservation. Also, parking is free for this group in spite of the note that indicates there is charge.

Of course, you can always call toll free 1-888-340-2594 and tell them you are with the "COLLINS 2009 REUNION" or the "COL Oct 16" group.

Again, if you made a reservation with the hotel previously, please drop me a line so we can be sure we have you covered. Thanks, Jim Ogann (jogp98@yahoo.com)

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Meet You in St. Louis? Don't be Left Behind!!!








The deadline for making room reservations for the 2009 Collins Radio Reunion in St. Louis is approaching quickly.

It is important that you contact the hotel and sign up!

These are some of the photos from the 2006 reunion. Do you recognize any of these wonderful people? A lot of them will be in St. Louis so don't miss this opportunity to meet them there.

More of the posts from the last reunion are at the end of the blog so feel free to scroll down and enjoy!

When you call the hotel, it is important that you tell them that you are part of the "COL Oct 16" or the "Collins 2009 Reunion" group so that you get on the proper list and are counted as part of our group. If you reserve on-line be sure to use the Group Code COLCOLA. We believe that some your current reservations were not counted properly by the hotel so if you have already made a hotel reservation, please e-mail Jim Ogann at jogp98@yahoo.com if you have made a reservation.

Thanks for your help and PLEASE get your reservations in ASAP. The deadline is July 1, 2009.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

It's really time to SIGN UP -NOW



COLLINS 2009 REUNION

Contact your friends and make your plan - then call the hotel and sign up for a room. More info will be coming on the dinner shortly.






Friday: Reception, hospitality room open
Saturday All Day: Hospitality room open for you to use.
Saturday Night: Dinner
Sunday: Breakfast or Brunch and farewells

Remember to return to this blog to keep up with what is going on.

The reunion will be held in St. Louis, MO Friday, October 16, 2009 through Monday, October 19, 2009 at the Marriott Renaissance, St. Louis Hotel Airport, 9801 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, Mo 63134. The phone number for the hotel is (314) 429-1100, or toll free 1-888-340-2594. Their fax is (314)429-3466. We have agreed that we will block a certain group of Rooms for Fri, Sat and Sun nights. You must make your reservations yourself directly with the hotel. Take a tour of the hotel at: http://marriott.com/stlsa and you can make your reservations on line at that site. Use the Group Code COLCOLA. That should get you the rate and insure that you are properly registered.

We have reserved a limited block of rooms and the deadline for reservations is JULY 1, 2009. The early reservation date was set so that if we have more attendees, we will be able to secure more rooms. Make your room reservations today!!!! We have negotiated a room rate of $79 plus taxes per night. Be sure to tell the hotel when you make your reservations that is for the COLLINS 2009 REUNION.

Also, for those of you that may be attending from the Iowa location we have information concerning a bus for transportation to St. Louis if enough people are interested. Please see the bus posts on this blog for further details.

There are complimentary shuttles to and from Lambert International Airport/Metrolink. Parking is free to all reunion attendees.

Very shortly, we will have a form on the Blog Spot for you to make your reservation for the Banquet Dinner that is scheduled for Saturday night, October 17, 2009. This form will include the entrees and prices. You will be able to print this form off and mail with your deposit for the dinner. Please mail to: Collins 2009 Reunion, 1975 Litchfield Dr., Hiawatha, IA 52233. All checks are to be made out to: Collins 2009 Reunion. We must have received your reservations and deposit for the banquet by: July 1, 2009. This early date has a two -fold purpose. It will allow us to increase the order if we have more attendees plus the number one reason: We had to put a hefty deposit on the banquet and we need to know early.

Remember, this Blog Spot is you link to all information http://genav.blogspot.com and please feel free to pass it on to those that you think may be interested but may have not received the launch e-mail.

The Bus Option:
We are attempting to arrange a chartered bus for those in the CR area that would like that option. Here is the plan, if we can fill the bus with 50 people.

Round trip chartered bus transportation from Cedar Rapids to St. Louis will cost $55 per person. You will still be responsible for reserving dinner and Saturday night's hotel accommodations and will need to sign up for those items separately, the same as others that will travel on their own.

We plan to leave Cedar Rapids Saturday, October 17th around 6:30 - 7:30 AM. This would put us in St. Louis around 12:00 - 1:00 PM. Departure from St. Louis would be the following afternoon - Sunday the 18th. We plan to leave between 1:00 - 2:00 PM. Actual departure times will be made know later. Food is allowed the bus but no alcoholic beverages.

If you plan to take advantage of the bus service please send an email to TomPatBus@gmail.com stating your firm intention to do so. Once we hit or exceed the magic number of folks (50), each of you who have signed up will receive an email requesting payment. If we have more interested than we can accommodate, we will handle it on a first come, first served, based on when the checks arrive and are opened.

We need to receive 50 commitments by June 25, in order to lock in the bus. Because we have to pay for the bus up-front, payments will be non-refundable.

Photo Sites are Available for you to Upload your Pictures:

There are two photo sites associated with this one. They can be reached by clicking on them in the "Links" section of this page.

The first one is intended to host your photos from the 2006 reunion in Branson.

The second one is for you to share your historical pictures from your career at Collins. The archives on this site have a large number of other photos as well. Enjoy

Please feel free to download your photos to either or both sites in the "Links" area. Just follow the instructions on photo the sites. You may have to reduce the size of your pictures however. It's best if you make up an album and load it up once after you have selected and down-sized your photos.

In the past we controlled access to these sites but they are opened up now. We will monitor them and as long as we don't see any abuse by outsiders, we will leave them open.

If you would like to print this entire post, go to the Links section on the upper left side of this page and click on the link for the "Master 5/15/09 document to print". When you see the document on the new site, click "More" right above the body of the document and print it from there.

(5/27/09)

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The 2009 Collins Radio Reunion is ON





Update:

This post was superseded by the 5/15/09 post announcing the hotel name etc.

The contract with the hotel has been signed and we should have information for you shortly.



For now, reserve the date and start looking at transportation options.



As before, this reunion is not intended to specifically exclude anyone. See the statement at the top of the page. Spread the word and make sure that those that may be interested know about it. It is not limited to just Collins retirees. If you want to join us, feel free to do so. We believe that the hotel selected will be able to handle a large group if needed.

Rockwell Collins (as a company) is not involved in this reunion and is not being asked to provide funding etc. All of the costs will be the responsibility of the participants. This was the way the first reunion was handled and it worked well.

What we can share at this time:
1. The reunion will take place in St. Louis, MO the weekend of October 16 – 19, 2009.
2. The organizers are finalizing the hotel arrangements. A first class hotel has been selected. It is located near the airport and transportation to/from the airport and the St. Louis’ train system will be provided. Parking is free. This hotel is a recently renovated business hotel and our weekend schedule will allow for reasonable rates. We believe that there will be a self-service web site available for you to directly book your rooms. More details to follow.
3. A dinner is in the planning stage – probably for Saturday night. A deposit will be required for dinner. More details later.
4. The reunion is being organized in a similar manner to the last one with plenty of time to catch up with all of the participants. A hospitality area is planned.
5. The site was chosen to allow easy access by air and auto. St. Louis is served by several low cost airlines.
6. The organizers are considering a bus charter from Cedar Rapids so if you are interested in this option; please e-mail Tom at TomPatBus@gmail.com. He is simply looking for a level of interest at this time. Once the details of the reunion are published he will propose options.
7. There are a lot of things to do in St. Louis and if you want to organize an event in conjunction with the reunion, please contact one of the organizers after the basics are announced in a few weeks.

The organizers thank you for your patience and intend to build on the great job the previous team did in 2006.

Diana, Diann, Bill, Tom and Jim