Smith Family Gathering in Eureka, SD


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It appeared that the Smiths had fun in Eureka over the 4th of July.   Following these series of photographs, are additional comments about the reunion, including the full speech and format hosted by our brother V.J. Smith.   It seems nothing has changed...everyone wants to stop by the Smiths to see where the action is....

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Ann and Megan

Barb reliving her past

Ben at Lake Eureka

Kelly, Laura, Mary Cecile, Molly, Ryan, Zach, Matt and Ben

Molly, Kelly and Mary Cecile Smith

I don't know how many hours we spent here during summer vacation

V.J. and Molly Smith (Brookings)

Wayne Frey (standing) with the Smiths

It seemed appropriate to include V.J.'s speech on our website as it describes how many of us felt growing up.   Many of his sentiments and recollections are similar to stories found at SMITH FAMILY STORIES.   While I'm sure that the delivery helped make the points more dramatic or funny, the speech is well written and received as noted by this notation on the Class of '73 WEB Site (Paulette Haupt Tobin):

Later that evening -- the night before the all-school reunion opening program -- some girlfriends and I crashed a party in the yard of Wayne Frey's Eureka home, where many of the Smith family siblings were gathered.

Someone said to V.J. Smith, "We're really looking forward to your speech at the opening program tomorrow morning." To which V.J. replied, "Well, it's not going to be a speech. It's more like a discussion."

The next morning, hundreds of alumni and friends crowded into the EHS gym for V.J.'s discussion, the theme of which was "Sharing the Memories." We laughed, we cried -- it was one of the reunion highlights.

When it was over, Jane Heupel and Tammy Job turned to me and said: "That was too short." I'm pretty sure that was the first time those words were uttered at the conclusion of any program presented in the history of the Eureka High School auditorium.

Nina (Schumacher) Kunz, Class of 1970, e-mailed me after the reunion and said: "V.J. was more than entertaining. I think it's his sincerity that impresses people as well as his uncanny ability to make you laugh and make you cry. And somewhere in the midst of it, all you want to do is 'hook' arms with your neighbor and sing, 'We Are the World,' or in this case, 'We Are the Trojans'."

Thanks to V.J.'s generosity (he e-mailed me a copy of the script) we are able to post a written copy of "Sharing the Memories" to this Web site. Scroll down to the next "window" to read it. We think you'll laugh and cry, too. Thanks, V.J. Your classmates and friends are so proud of you.

To read V.J.'s speech, just click on Eureka Reunion '06 which is located on this website.  It is very well written.