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Opening Remarks and introduction
of our guest speaker.
Opening remarks by David Graves:
"January 31, 1699 the French explorers LeMoyne and D'lberville landed and
laid claim to
Dauphin Island and the territory we later came to know as the Louisiana
Territory. Early
1704 the first child was born on Dauphin Island. One could say
Dauphin Island was the
birthplace of our existing community.
Fast forward now to the late 1940s. Members of the Mobile Chamber
of Commerce
dreamed up a wild idea to build a bridge to Dauphin Island and divide
the Island into lots
and sell them. Finally in 1953 the dream started coming to
fruition. 80% of the lots were
sold within three days. Prior to construction of the bridge,
committee members ferried to
Dauphin Island by boat, launching from Cedar Point.
Ms Martha Collier ran a small restaurant at Cedar Point. She
wasn't fond of a bridge being
built and made it known. She said on day a great tide and storm
will wash either the
bridge or the island away. Approximately 25 years later, Hurricane
Frederick hit and
destroyed the bridge.
Mayor Collier was set to begin college at the University of South
Alabama in two weeks
when Hurricane Frederick hit. The bridge was gone, what should he
do? Well if it wasn't
for Hurricane Frederick, Jeff Collier may not have been the Island's
Mayor.
When the town was incorporated in 1988, Mayor Collier was elected as
councilman and
continues to serve for the betterment of this community, historic
Dauphin Island."
Mayor Collier now took the floor and fielded a lot of questions about
the Island and all
had a good time. The party was over about 10:00 pm (2200 hours) and
we adjourned to all
return to our lodging for the evening.
We hope to see all of the members from the 693rd Radar Squadron return
for our next
reunion in about 2 years (2017).
The location of our next reunion on
the Island will be determined later on. Please note that
due to the heavy
school
schedules, the old
dinning hall may not be available the next time
we get together.
If that is the case, then we
will be meeting somewhere on the Island for a
great dinner and
get together. This will
be announced on this web site once it has been
decided on.
PLEASE
keep your email address current so that you will get the announcements.
We hope that everyone will be able to
make it for the next reunion.
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