And a good time was had by all!

Big surprise!!

We thought that the surprise had been compromised, but as Shelley brought Ken into the Studio Theater it was obvious that he truly did not know.

As the afternoon went on, tribute after tribute came from Pigs to his oldest pal, Vaughan Hitchcock. They went all through school together. In high school, Vaughan had a crush on a girl named Pat and asked Rugg to ask her out on his behalf. She accepted. Rugg chauffeured them in his dad's car on their first date. Pat and Vaughan celebrated their 55th anniversary this year!

Shelley's band, Shake and the Chantoosies played. Former students and long time faculty friends spoke. Herb Camburn brought renderings and photos of sets and costumes he'd designed for Ken over the years they'd worked together.

Ursula Voight came down from Mill Valley! I introduced them. They were married and amicably divorced. I think I saw a tear in Rugg's eye when she said that he was her best friend.

Ken Anderson arrived from Washington and gave a moving tribute to how Ken had changed his life!

Linda Woolverton told a wonderful story of being the single student in Ken's Junior Theatre Program. He's particularly proud of her. She came from New York City where she's been writing the script for Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND.. a version of which she worked on in the Junior Theatre thing at the age of thirteen!

The evening was capped by a performance by Shelley, Emily and Afsahne of Rugg's "In Search of the Heavenly Host" a wonderful obtuse and somewhat flowy Beckett inspired theatre piece.

Linda Paszkewicz and her husband, Mark, pitched in with the prep, as did Jose, Shelley's guy and his son, Zach.

Adam and David were in attendance. David brought Jeanne and his kinder.

Grace's decorations rocked! (I introduced them, too!)

We found room for a ton of food and got contributions to the Ken Rugg Scholarship Fund which was headed toward a thousand bucks. Everyone autographed the big old T shirt that I drew his furry face on. It looked great

The best part was that Rugg was truly surprised and graciously received much deserved praise over and over again, greeting former students and old friends for hours.

Shelly Rugg has been the true spirit of what became an event that we'll all remember with great joy.

Happy 75th, Rugg! Let's do it again in 2084!!! Thank you for being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to change my life, too

love, michaelsheehan