2025 Reunion
A wonderful day for laughter, memories, excellent food and warm weather. Honour year grads, grads, family and guests enjoyed visiting while enjoying a lunch prepared by the Lombardy Fair Board. Gordon French, our President welcomed everyone to lunch and addressed year ’55 who were celebrating their 70th graduation anniversary. Joining their table were grads from ’51 and ’52. John Wright ’51 grad was honoured for being the oldest grad present.
Once again, the table décor for lunch and dinner was designed by Board Member Cindy Dawson. Our ticket takers for the meal were Mel and Joyce Shannon. Over 150 enjoyed the dinner of Roast ham, scalloped potatoes, home baked beans, buns, salads and home-made desserts. The Alumni appreciate the cooking talents of the Lombardy Fair Board women and men. Thank you very much.
Special recognition was given to Susan Dunphy ’70 and Alfred Dunphy ’71 who travelled from PEI to attend the reunion.
People attending dinner responded very positively to the 50/50 draw. Money raised helps support the reunion activities. The draw raised $1240.00 and the winner of the $620.00 had fun spending the money on auction items. Thank you to all who bought tickets.
The silent and live auction raises money for our scholarships, which have been raised to $1500.00 presented to two college students in their second year in a Food or Agriculture college program. The application will be on the web in September www.kcalumni.ca
The silent auction raised $753.00.
Our auctioneer, John Joynt ’63 grad, made sure people spent their money on the live auction items and $1255.00 was raised.
The Spirit Award was won by year ’85. Pictured below is Earl Stanley( left) accepting the award from Board Member David Bobier. The year members shared healthy fruit snacks donated by a board member!
Our president Gordon was MC for the event and Audrey Baker said the blessing. Thank you, Cindy, for your part in the organizing the reunion and keeping the board members, grads and all helpers busy on Friday and Saturday!
Please mark your calendar for next year. The date is set for June 13th, 2026. We are trying this date since it does not conflict with fair dates when grads are showing cattle.
Margaret Link Photography has provided the class pictures below. Thank you.
2024 Reunion
The rain held off and the people came.
Pictures below show many grads visiting the Historical Building and catching up with fellow grads.
The annual meeting was well attended. Ron Burgess and Kim Link were presented with the Big Cookie Award by Ken Witt. This was for all their outstanding work on the historical building and registration.
The lunch was well attended. Hugh Sharpe ’49 grad, attended with his daughter and son-in-law. He was awarded a dinner ticket prize for being the oldest grad at lunch.
The evening dinner had beautiful table décor to mark their year. These were designed by board member, Cindy Dawson. They had the Kemptville crest on back and front and Class of on the front.
Mel and Joce Shannon were the ticket takers and 67 deposited tickets for lunch and 144 dropped in their dinner tickets. The delicious meals were served by the Lombardy Agricultural Fair Board volunteers.
Our dinner had some two new events.
1. We honoured the grad who had travelled the farthest to attend the reunion. It was Ken Witt ’64 grad and his wife Mandy who travelled from Chilliwack BC. They were also celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations!
2. Our Reunion had a 50/50 draw this year to help raise money for the event. Cindy, David and Rachael are shown hard at work in the picture below. The draw raised $910 and $455 was won by Joe Allison , who graciously donated the money back to the alumni. Thank you.
A silent and live auction also took place after dinner. If you check out Kemptville College Alumni Facebook, you will see the pictures of the generous donations. The money from the silent auction of $848 and from the live auction of $1561.50 will benefit our Scholarship Fund. The Spirit Award was won by ’69 – they usually win every 5 years! Our President, Gordon French was MC and Greg Foster said the blessing.
Thank you to those who attended this year. We hope to see grads next year. Stay tuned for news at a later date.
The date for our 2025 reunion will be August 16th, 2025.
Class and Couples Photos by Margaret Link
Annual Meeting
Alumni attended the Annual Meeting, visited the Historical Building, and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside.
The Alumni appreciated the excellent lunch and dinner prepared by the “Lombardy Fair Board Ladies.”
Hugh Sharpe ’49, from Napanee, enjoyed spending time in the Kemptville College Alumni Historical Building. He was greeted by President Gordon French and then had the opportunity to read all the material collected for his year. He will be attending his 75th reunion next year on August 17th, 2024.
Another Successful Kemptville College Alumni Reunion – 2023
By Joe and Grace Allison – year ’68
Graduates of Kemptville College descended upon their new Alumni home at Lombardy Fairgrounds for the annual meeting on Saturday, August 19th. Graduating years were represented from 1949 to 1998/99. Years ending in 03 or 08 were honour years, which are celebrated every five years. The 2022 reunion saw years ending in 00, 01, 02, 05, 06, and 07 featured in order to catch up for COVID cancellations.
Seventy-two grads and partners enjoyed lunch, followed by 154 attending a delicious chicken dinner prepared and presented by the Lombardy Fair board ladies. The evening program included tributes to Ron and Joyce Burgess for their significant contribution toward the historical building planning, construction, and curating, as well as recognition of Isabel and Don Kinnear for their outstanding fundraising activity.
Allan Earle, on behalf of year ’73, presented a cheque in the amount of $4000.00 toward the Kemptville College Alumni scholarship fund, which had been raised at their 50th reunion event held on April 27th. This generous donation, in combination with the evening’s auction results, saw $6036.00 raised in total for the Alumni scholarship fund.
Year ’68 turned out in force with 56 for dinner, including 35 grads. Once again, they claimed the ‘spirit award’ until 2024’s gathering decides the next year’s trophy holder. All Kemptville Alumni are welcome and encouraged to attend each annual celebration, not just their honour 5-year increment. It is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends, make new friends, and keep abreast of Alumni developments.
Mark August 17th, 2024 on your calendar now. Years ending in ’04 and ’09 will be honoured but remember everyone is welcome to attend. 2024 Scholarship forms will be on the web shortly. Check out www.kcalumni.ca
Photography by Margaret Link
The 2022 Reunion was a great success.
Over 100 attended lunch, and 250 were at the dinner. Over $3500 was raised for the Scholarship Fund. The class picture below has been provided to the web by Photography by Margaret Link.
Our building was officially opened on August 24th, 2019. We are presently raising money for the interior cabinetry to display the many important artifacts from our college years.