American Community School (ACS)

 

As many of you know, Bill went to high school at the American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon. He often says that the years he spent there were some of the best of his life. He also made many lifetime friends there. Here are some photos from that time in his life.

Here is a potpourri of pictures I took way back when.
ACS School trips were really something special. The trip to the lost city of Petra was certainly one of them. Here are some pictures.
Here we are! We sure looked grim, and most everyone had to take their glasses off, so its sometimes hard to tell who is who. For extra credit, figure out who is missing.

2005 was the 100th anniversary of ACS so they scheduled a major reunion and celebration- in Beirut! Ever since the reunion was announced 8 years ago, Bill had planned on going – hoping for things to be peaceful enough to make the trip possible. When 2005 rolled around, and all was calm in Beirut, plans were made and the trip was on!

Bill’s true love and eternal good sport (aka Adele) was a little fearful, having heard too many evening newscasts. However, by the time she arrived in Beirut, she had talked with several natives who told how wonderful it was and Adele was her usual enthusiastic self. The first moments in Beirut were thrilling since Lebanese taxi drivers have lost neither their élan nor their desire to get from point A to point B as fast as possible and treated the Browns to one of their trademark rides to town. Nevertheless, Adele soon felt comfortable enough to take off shopping on her own. The icing on the cake was when she discovered a terrific place for cheap, good food at the AUB (American University of Beirut) cafeteria.

Without going into all the details, suffice it to say that the trip was a huge success. Not only did we have time for endless parties with friends old and new, we had the chance to tour Beirut and the surrounding country. Beirut and Lebanon were even more splendid and colorful than Bill had remembered. Even though there were plenty of signs of recent battles, rebuilding was going on at a furious pace, and the “new” Beirut was even better then the old one. The Lebanese people were uniformly friendly and even enthusiastic when they found out we were Americans. Since virtually everyone in Lebanon speaks excellent English, we never had any trouble getting around. Since one of our friends had lived in Beirut and had access to a car and driver, we had a good chance to see some of the sites that make Lebanon such a unique place. One day we drove to Byblos – the oldest city in the world, which has been occupied as a town for over 8,000 years. On another day, we went to the National Museum which houses artifacts from the many civilizations that have resided in (or conquered) Lebanon.

The final evening was given over to a grand party which featured delicious food, drink and entertainment. The party was spectacular and (as they say) a good time was had by all.
Judy (Mandeville) Lipman courageously invited the gang to her home in Carmel for a get-together and rehashing of old memories. 14 out of the 26 class members showed up. In addition to the usual drinking, eating and generally crude behavior, time was found for whjolesome natures walks and singing of old favorite hymns from chapel. We have all mellowed a bit and there was a lot of warm-hearted camaraderie.
Carrie (Overton) Randall is going to try to pur together another reunion in Ft. Myers, FL in 2009. Go Carrie!