New Gym Celebration

The big day finally arrived. The new Win Mumby Gym at Woodstock has now been officially dedicated. The school organized a great event for this occasion (see below).

Started the day (sunny and beautiful again) with a walk up the chukar with Jane (Downs) Wallbrown’s son Sheldon, to look at the Snows again. I can’t get enough of that view. We then walked down zig-zag path to Woodstock, doing a little exploring along the way. Had lunch at Woodstock cafeteria and caught up with Judy Crider (my classmate) again.

Marc and Judy in the cafeteria. Judy was kind enough to take pictures with my camera (I was sitting on the dias). All the pictures of the gym dedication ceremony were taken by her.

Before I describe the festivities, here’s a little more information on the new gym.  When I was at Woodstock, what was called the gym wasn’t really a gym. It was a concrete pad, smaller than regulation basketball court size, that was covered by a tin roof. It had walls on three sides but was open on the fourth. The open side faced out onto a gravel playground, which had some storage sheds on the other side.

A photo of the old gym and playground area. This view is looking out the open side of the gym, across the playground to the sheds on the other side.

Now, imagine that entire area (gym, playground, sheds) covered by one gigantic building. In fact the gym building covers more than that area because it is cantilevered out over the hill on two sides. It’s so big that I wasn’t able to get a picture that included all of  it.

The walkway going up to the gym is the same, but you can see the new building coming out over the hill at the top.

When you get to the top of the walkway, you can see the gym entrance on the right, just past the plaque.

Here's a shot of Dad and I standing in the gym foyer. Behind us are glass doors that lead onto the main gym floor.

We headed to school in the late afternoon to meet up with the other (for lack of a better word) dignitaries. We then assembled in one of the gym classrooms prior to our grand entrance. By this time the gym was completely full of people. This included all the students, faculty, and staff. I think someone said 750 people. This was the first time the entire Woodstock community has been able to assemble under one roof.

Here's a view down the length of the gym showing part of the crowd.

We were led out to a dias set up in the middle of gym floor that was illuminated by spotlights. Talk about being put on display… yikes!  It felt odd and a bit embarrasing to be sitting with people who had contributed so much, since the only reason I was there was because Winston was my Uncle.

We were introduced by David Laurensen (Woodstock Principal). This was followed by a few short (thank god!) statements from people, including Dad, on how the new gym came to be and what it will mean to Woodstock. Even though people tried to make things brief, you could see all the little kids sitting up front start to squirm and fidget long before it was over.

Here's Dad reminising about Win and their days at Woodstock. People on the dias include: Thomas Chandy (Chairman of the Woodstock Board of Directors), Sanjay Narang (seated behind Dr. Laurensen), Rick Downs, Lynn Mumby (behind Dad), me, Jane Wallbrown, Frederick Downs, Mary Downs, Susan Downs, Sheldon Wallbrown, and Ajay Mark (Athletic Director).

The ceremony was followed by a delicious Indian buffet (for everyone) back down in the quad and dancing back in the gym. Cousin Lynn even got ME to dance! This is the first time I’ve been at a dance with teenages in a while. They don’t dance as couples anymore. They stand around in separate groups of boys and girls, jump up and down, raise their arms when once in a while. Occasionally a girl and boy will wind up near each other and sort of dance together. I guess the big advantage of this style is that the guys don’t have to actually ask girls to dance. Wimps!

An amazing dance party was held in the gym after dinner. The light show and sound were fantastic.

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