August 4-6, 2006
Quad Cities and Aledo, Illinois

Everyone had a wonderful time as we returned once again to the Aledo area for our biennial reunion  The event was headquartered at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Rock Island, but the chance to visit the campus was the high point of the weekend.

We have grouped the photos based on the various events that took place over the weekend. Just click on the groups below.   The pictures are all "thumbnail" images.  Just click to bring up the original, larger photo. (You can also save the photos to your computer...here's how.)

Our thanks to Pete Adkins '71, Lenny Dierking '52, Bob Fritz '65, Herb Golden '67, Bob Kramer '65, Gene Shalander '50 and Gary Swedberg '69 for providing the photos from the reunion.

• The weekend began with a Welcome Reception hosted by the Reunion Committee at the hotel. It was the first chance for people to get to say "hello" to old friends...and some new ones from earlier or later classes. The registration room contained a large exhibit of RMA memorabilia.

• A number of cadets and their families took advantage of an optional dinner cruise on the Mississippi River.

• On Saturday, the reunion moved to the old RMA campus for a picnic.

• During the picnic, there was plenty of time to look around and explore the old campus.   Having a drill-off so all of us old cadets could show off our close order drill skills (or lack thereof in most cases) is a tradition at RMA Reunions.  However, this is the first time we have been able to hold the drill-off on "The Slab."  A remembrance ceremony was also held on "The Slab" where all of the names of cadets were read who were known to be deceased.

• After the picnic and campus exploration, we visited downtown Aledo to see how the town had changed and to look at the RMA memorabilia put on display by some of the shopkeepers.

• There was also time to visit the Essley-Noble Museum operated by the Mercer Country Historical Society.  The original ceremonial gates from the front of the Administration Building highlight the Roosevelt exhibit at the museum.

• The Saturday evening banquet gave everyone a chance to enjoy some more camaraderie, a good meal and do some dancing.  Unfortunately every one was having so much fun by the time the dancing began, we don't have any pictures after about 9pm.  (But then maybe that's just as well considering some of the pictures that were taken during the dance at the 2002 reunion.  

• The breakfast on Sunday morning was followed by the first business meeting of the RMA Rough Rider Association.

CREDITS

Special thanks go to the following people and organizations that made this reunion such a fantastic success:

 
ATTENDEES
(in class year order)