The new building was under construction on the date of the 25th anniversary of the Friends of the Almaden Library, so we postponed the festivities until after the May 13th opening of the new building.  When the 2006 Annual Meeting date was chosen, we decided to also celebrate the 25th anniversary on the same evening.  With some extraordinary detective work, we managed to find most of the earlier Presidents of the Friends group, and also the librarian at the time when the Friends group was first established.  Jan Dickens was the librarian then, and she came down from Davis, California, to help us celebrate.  The President of that very first Friends' Board of Directors was Suzanne Paullin, and she also joined us for the evening's festivities.  Charter Members from 1979 who attended the anniversary dinner were Shirley Brewer, Monica Bellizzi, Judy Chamberlin, Jan Dickens, Suzanne Paullin, and Edna Sewill.

Before we could celebrate, we needed to hold a short business meeting, and President, Edna Sewill, introduced guests and led us through the agenda.  Following the usual reports by the Membership Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer, the following members' names were placed in nomination for these positions on the Board:

A voice vote was taken, and the nominees were elected unanimously to serve in their current positions for another year.  One other item of business was conducted:  the amendment of the Bylaws.  The members present voted unanimously to amend the Bylaws as proposed during the January 17, 2006 meeting.  The Bylaws amended here were later amended again, in November 2006.

Our photographer, Tom Wilson, took many pictures to memorialize the occasion.  Clicking on any of the thumbnail images below will display the full-size picture.

After socializing for a while, the library closing time arrived, and we had to leave.  But it was wonderful to see everyone again, and we hope that everyone will be able to come again when we celebrate our 30th or 35th anniversaries!