Reunion

‘We’re celebrating Camelot’

Clark DeLeon, Karl Stark & Butch Ward perform “Investigations,” a song to the tune of “Anticipation.” Lyrics written by Mary Walton and Charles Layton.
(Video by Russell Cooke)

More than 320-strong, they came to mingle, laugh and hug, then returned to distant homes enriched by renewed friendships and memories from The Inquirer’s 18-year run under Gene Roberts. In almost no time, they were blogging about it — and uploading photos to share with colleagues. And ordering reunion T-shirts.

Photo by Dale Mezzacappa

People got to tell firsthand what they’ve been up to lately. As Gene Foreman noted, surveying the room, it was an embarrassment of riches – so many storied journalists in one room at the same time. Former Inquirer reporter Jere Downs described the gathering as her “creative and spiritual tribe.” Mel Greenberg commented, “We’re celebrating Camelot.”

In a fitting after-party note to Maven Extraordinaire Carol Horner, Jim Naughton captured a sense of what made the afternoon special.

Photo by Clark DeLeon

Yo, Carol,
Congratulations on a wonderful reunion. … You should know how many people told me — and I’m sure told others — it was the perfect embodiment of the place where we loved to work. Never perhaps in the recorded history of any workplace have there been so many genuine embraces in one spot. That’s the part I’ll remember the longest: How you could stand at any spot in that pavilion and witness someone hugging someone else with a smile of delight. Wow. What an accomplishment.
Thanks.
Cheers, Norton

(Sadly, the party was to be Carol’s last great gift to her Inquirer colleagues. Carol passed away suddenly on Oct. 24, 2008. Her former colleagues paid tribute to her in obituaries published in The Inquirer and The Washington Post.)

The gathering that Carol organized, of course, was the The Inquirer Class of 1972-1990 reunion held Saturday, July 12, 2008 in suburban Philly. Hundreds of alums traveled literally thousands of miles to be together. It was somethin’, aw-right.

Skits were the best ever, as demonstrated by Charlie Layton singing that his Web-browsing “Momma” told him “the newspaper business will always treat you right” in “Dead Tree Media Blues.” (To play, click on the picture.)